The Sovereignty of God: Our Peace and Responsibility

Esther 4:10-14

The word sovereign comes from the Latin root word Superanus which means supreme, and contained in the word sovereign is reign which means to rule as supreme over something, a kingdom or land and is often used when describing Jesus’ triumphant return at his second coming, Revelation 11:15 “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.””

We may take the sovereignty of God for granted, as in we do believe it but have we ever thought about why God is sovereign? God created the heavens and the earth, he is the creator and sustainer of everything we as temporal, created beings see, hear, touch, taste, and feel. God did not create the entire universe on a whim just to see how everything would turn out. God created all of creation for a purpose, for His purpose. This purpose or plan cannot be diverted or modified, and nothing that has, is, or will happen is outside of God’s sight and knowledge. This purpose and plan that God has for His creation is also called God’s sovereignty. He is supreme over all that He has created.

There are multiple passages in the bible that discuss the sovereignty of God,

Colossians 1:16-17 “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

God is the creator and sustainer of all things, and all things work together for His glory.

Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

Throughout the Old testament and up to the time of Acts decisions were made by casting lots, which are like dice, and the most simple of them being just two sided, yes and no. When seeking guidance from God on decisions to be made the question would be asked and the lot thrown and because God is sovereign and rules over all including the way the lot will land, the answer is from the Lord. In Acts when the Holy Spirit descended and is now dwelling in every true believer we turn to prayer and trust the in the Holy Spirit to guide us in God’s will for every aspect of our lives instead of lots.

Isaiah 45:7-9 “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things. “Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it. “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?”

We are God’s property, his creation, whether we accept or acknowledge this, it remains true. Can the creation tell the creator that he created us wrong? It is the will of the creator to create us for His purposes, and God’s will is always good, and always true, we may not see His purpose in our lifetime, we may grieve and begin to have doubt as a result of this fallen world that we live in, but if we believe and have true repentant faith we can take comfort in the sovereignty of God.

I would like to look at the book of Esther as a further picture of the sovereignty of our God.

John MacArthur summed up the book of Esther in the introduction of his commentary on the book of Esther, he said that Esther was like watching a chess match between God and Satan, Satan makes a move, God counters, Satan thinks he has God in check, nope God moves another piece and now its checkmate. Satan can never win, God made the chess board and the game itself, and you will never be victorious against the one who knows all, past, present and future because He made it all, and it is all working for His glory.

Before we get to our passage here is a short history and a summation of Esther up to the point that we will start reading.

Esther is one of only two books in the Bible named after women, Ruth being the other. It also shares a unique quality with one other book in the Bible, Esther and the Song of Solomon are the only two books in all of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments that do not directly name God in them. Neither book contains the words God, Yahweh, Jehovah, or the Lord in their pages at least in the King James Version and Lexham English Bible, the ESV which I am using for references and the American Standard Version translate chapter 8 verse 6 containing the LORD and Jehovah respectively.

KJV Song of Solomon 8:6 “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, As a seal upon thine arm: For love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as the grave: The coals thereof are coals of fire, Which hath a most vehement flame.”

ESV Song of Solomon 8:6 “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.”

So in the ESV and ASV translations Esther stands alone as the only book that does not contain or mention God directly. This and that Esther and Mordecai, the two main Jewish figures in Esther, are not directly seen to follow any of the Jewish traditions or adhering to God’s law for the Jews, this has caused some controversy as to if it should even be included in the cannon of scripture. But reading the book of Esther you can clearly see God’s hand in everything that happens, and the main theme of the book of Esther is God’s sovereignty and how even in exile God is still watching over and protecting his chosen people. I would like to look at one particular verse in Esther which I think is a clear and powerful summary of God’s sovereignty, the peace we should have knowing that God is sovereign and will accomplish all things for his glory, but also our responsibility as not only created beings of God but also as called and redeemed sons and daughters of God through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We will read Esther 4: 10-14 with a particular emphasis on verse 14.

At the point in Esther where we will begin reading the ruling king of Persia, king Ahasuerus, Xerxes in some translations, has dismissed his wife, queen Vashti, and brought all of the marriageable virgins throughout his kingdom to the capital city so that he could pick out a new queen that pleased him. Esther was one of these women that were brought before the king and she became queen of Persia, but by order of Mordecai, who is the cousin and the adoptive father of Esther after both of her parents pass away, Mordecai is also much older than Esther, Mordecai commanded Esther that she was not to tell anyone of her Jewish heritage. While Esther was queen, Ahasuerus’ second in command, a man named Haman, who is a descendant of king Agag of the Amalekites, whom king Saul, the first king of Israel, was commanded by God to remove all traces of the Amalekites from the earth, men, women, children, livestock, everything and everyone of the Amalekites were appointed for destruction by God. But even though this command was given from God, Saul disobeyed God and spared what he deemed worthy to himself, which included king Agag. Haman was descended from Agag and held a special hatred for the Jews, this little bit of backstory and history is another reminder of the far reaching consequences of disobeying God, if Saul had obeyed God some 500 years before, Haman would not have existed and the main strife and conflict in the book of Esther would not have taken place, another note on this historical feud is that Mordecai and Esther are Benjaminites, just as Saul was and were descendants of Kish, Saul’s father. God being sovereign over all was not surprised at Saul’s disobedience and used Saul’s disobedience for his glory however, immediately at the time to remove Saul and put king David on the throne, and through David’s line would come Jesus, and also through the disobedience of Saul with the Amalekites comes the book of Esther and the display of his grace and protection for his people.

Back to Esther, Haman the second in command under Ahasuerus, is offended by Mordecai, who refused to bow before Haman and treat him as royalty, this could have also been because of the feud between Israel and the Benjamites in particular and the Amalekites and the Agagites in particular, the Agagites were the Amalekites descended from Agag which Haman was. In Haman’s anger he decides that punishing and killing Mordecai is not enough and makes a plan to have all of the Jews in Persia killed, thousands and thousands of Jews must die because one man is angry at another. But because Esther was commanded by Mordecai to hide her Jewish lineage Haman is unaware that the queen is also Jewish or knows that Mordecai is her adopted father, so Haman brings his plan to king Ahasuerus and convinces him to that this plan is good, so with king Ahasuerus’ approval Haman moves on to picking the date that the decree will take affect and the date for the genocide is chosen by lots by Haman’s advisors and as we read earlier from Proverbs, the lot is cast into the lap but the outcome is determined by the Lord, the ideal date as determined by the lots, but it is actually God’s sovereign will, that determines a date which is 11 months away, thus giving time for the protection and deliverance from this attempted genocide to come about. With the date set the decree then goes out to all of the cities and provinces that king Ahasuerus rules over, 127 provinces in all from India to Ethiopia. Mordecai and all of the Jews see the decree, which said that on the 13th day of the month of Adar which corresponds to February/March in our calendar, and it was currently in the month of Nisan or March/April, on the 13th day of Adar all of the Jews, the men, women, and children are to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated and all of their possessions plundered. All of the Jews in 127 countries, thousands upon thousands, murdered because one man thinks so highly of himself and has so much pride and hatred that he thinks that killing all of those people is the right thing to do to repair his ego. When Mordecai sees this decree he covers himself in sackcloth and ashes, a traditional response and attire for mourning, and goes out into the city and cries out in great anguish. Someone in Esther’s court informs her of what Mordecai is doing so she sends clean clothes to Mordecai and instructs him to come into the citadel, to her so he can inform her of what he is mourning about, it was unlawful to enter the citadel dressed in sackcloth and ashes. Mordecai refuses the fresh clothes and send word back to Esther about what is happening along with a copy of the decree so she may read it herself, he also commands Esther that she should go and see king Ahasuerus and plead to him to save all of the lives of all of the Jews. Now that we are armed with all of the information, backstory and history we can read our passage.

Esther 4:10-14 “Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

Esther knows now why Mordecai was in mourning, and knows that he is telling her to go to the king to beg for help in saving all of the Jews in the land, and while Esther does not outright refuse to plead the case to the king, she does tell him that it is against the law to go to the king unannounced, and if the king does not hold out his sceptre to the unannounced person and grant audience to them the penalty is death. She also includes that she has not been called in to see the king in thirty days. Esther was afraid, she was probably unsure of her position with the king since he had not called her to be with him for thirty days and she knew that if she had become less pleasing in his eyes her unannounced visit would be an easy way for him to get rid of her as queen as she knows of what had happened to Vashti before her. Now we continue with verses 13 and 14.

“And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?””

In the beginning of verse 14 Mordecai shows us the peace we should have knowing that God is sovereign over all, even though he is facing his destruction and the destruction of all his people in Persia from Haman’s evil plan and Esther is fearful because going to plead their case to Ahasuerus without being summoned may cost her her life, Mordecai is not panicked or filled with despair. Mordecai knows that God is sovereign and in the face of all that is happening he knows that God’s will will not be stopped and if his and his fellow Jews deliverance does not come from Esther pleading their case to Ahasuerus then it will come from some other person or situation. This is the peace we should have in everything in our lives, day to day, minute by minute God is in control and everything will work out for His glory. But having this peace however does not remove us from our duties as sons and daughters of the true and living God.

Esther was afraid of what would happen to her if she went unannounced to Ahasuerus and he rejected her, but she was forgetting that she was one of God’s chosen people and that above all she should fear God and follow his commandments.

Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Mordecai also reminds her of this, that just because she is the queen and is in the palace, her fate would not be any different that the rest of the Jews and even goes further after telling her that if she does not act then God would have already known and their deliverance would come from somewhere else, but because she refused act in defence of her own people, God’s chosen people, then her and all her house will perish. Just because we know that God is sovereign and in control does not exclude us from following the commandments and instructions sent from God to us. We should never take the attitude of inaction or indifference because we know that God is in control and say in an indifferent manor if it was ment to be then it will be, while this is true that God’s plan and power will not be denied or thwarted, and God uses everyone for his purpose and glory, but as children of the true and living God we know we have instructions and commandments to follow, this is our responsibility. God’s sovereignty will not be denied but we must act when we know we should, be bold and brave to speak the Gospel, love your neighbour as yourself, as God has loved us and loved us so much that he sent his son to pay for our sins to redeem us so we can sit at the supper table of the lamb in the new heavens and the new earth.

The last line of verse 14 sums up our responsibilities to act in light of God’s sovereign plan, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Who knows, God knows, God knows the plan, God made the plan and will carry out the plan, we are to trust Him and do all that is commanded of us, to follow God’s word given to us in the Scriptures to the best of our abilities, mentally and physically, and not to fear man but to fear God. This life is not our hope, this life and everything that is in it is passing away, our hope and our joy is that we as saved and redeemed saints will spend eternity with our God and saviour.

Revelation 21:1-4 A blessed picture of what we have waiting for us after our race ends, after we have fought the good fight “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””